Last week, I highlighted the fact that the latest Press Freedom Index showcased a 13 point plunge in America’s press freedom to an embarrassing #46 position in the global ranking. If the authoritarians in the Obama Administration have their way, this country is set to fall much further in next year’s index.

Incredibly, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is set to roll out something called the Critical Information Needs study, which will embed government “researchers” into media organizations around the nation to make sure they are doing their job properly.

No this isn’t “conspiracy theory.” It is so real, and represents such a threat to the First Amendment, that a current FCC commissioner, Ajit Pai, recently wrote an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal, warning Americans of this scheme. He writes:

News organizations often disagree about what Americans need to know. MSNBC, for example, apparently believes that traffic in Fort Lee, N.J., is the crisis of our time. Fox News, on the other hand, chooses to cover the September 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi more heavily than other networks. The American people, for their part, disagree about what they want to watch.

But everyone should agree on this: The government has no place pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories.

Unfortunately, the Federal Communications Commission, where I am a commissioner, does not agree. Last May the FCC proposed an initiative to thrust the federal government into newsrooms across the country. With its “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs,” or CIN, the agency plans to send researchers to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide which stories to run. A field test in Columbia, S.C., is scheduled to begin this spring.

The purpose of the CIN, according to the FCC, is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about “the process by which stories are selected” and how often stations cover “critical information needs,” along with “perceived station bias” and “perceived responsiveness to underserved populations.”

I have no idea what country I am living in at this point.

How does the FCC plan to dig up all that information? First, the agency selected eight categories of “critical information” such as the “environment” and “economic opportunities,” that it believes local newscasters should cover. It plans to ask station managers, news directors, journalists, television anchors and on-air reporters to tell the government about their “news philosophy” and how the station ensures that the community gets critical information.

Participation in the Critical Information Needs study is voluntary—in theory. Unlike the opinion surveys that Americans see on a daily basis and either answer or not, as they wish, the FCC’s queries may be hard for the broadcasters to ignore. They would be out of business without an FCC license, which must be renewed every eight years.

Should all stations follow MSNBC’s example and cut away from a discussion with a former congresswoman about the National Security Agency’s collection of phone records to offer live coverage of Justin Bieber‘s bond hearing? As a consumer of news, I have an opinion. But my opinion shouldn’t matter more than anyone else’s merely because I happen to work at the FCC.

Czech out (see what I did there?) what Snopes.com has to say about this. Rather unlikely that such an editorial was ever published in a Czech newspaper, and even if it actually was (again, no evidence it ever happened), there's certainly no evidnce it came from the former Czech premier, Vaclav Klaus.

The real danger to America are people who are so willfully blinded by their biases (yes, I'm pointing at you) that they acceot uncritically and perpetuate anything they see on the internet that that they want to be true, thus merely reinforcing their biases instead of making any strides towards becoming a truly informed citizen.

All I can say is, it's about time! Maybe they'll be able to get a handle on all this anti-Semite scream fest we've all been having to tolerate. The amount of bullshit I've had to endure, even here, is intolerable. I'm starting to think that maybe it's a good idea to require websites like this, to be licensed, and the owners attend a 2 wk sensitivity course. Speaking of which, I'm setting up a joint venture with ITT Tech, to do just that. Don't worry about the tuition though cuz you will be able to apply for student loans and grants:) just doin my part friends :)

Alex jones is a real American hero. You will never hear him try to frame the Jews for goy mismanagement and corruption. Yeah, he's one of the good ones. His wife's a Jew too! She's keeping his thinking straight unlike many of the troglodytes here on ZH.

According to Alex Constantine (Mockingbird: The Subversion Of The Free Press By The CIA), in the 1950s, "some 3,000 salaried and contract CIA employees were eventually engaged in propaganda efforts". Wisner was able to constrain newspapers from reporting about certain events, including the CIA plots to overthrow the governments of Iran (see: Operation Ajax) and Guatemala (see: Operation PBSUCCESS).

The fact that they're doing it publically now demonstrates to what esteem .gov holds the people.

To compare this latest false outrage by the oligarchs concerning research efforts that would show they fail to serve the public interest as their free broadcast licenses require, with actual government propaganda efforts, is to compare unicorns with horses.

It was only a few years ago an actual government propaganda operation got the American public on board with an invasion of Iraq based upon what are now proven lies about nonexistent WMD.

And one of the loudest cheerleaders for that war was the oligarchs' semiofficial press, the WSJ editorial page.

So what we have here is some false outrage by the oligarchs who run our country over a government program that would show these oligarchs don't meet the mandatory requirements of their broadcasting licenses. If I were an oligarch, I'd also try to get the rubes all riled up over this, because if the public found out that they actually owned the airways the oligarchs use to feed them shit it might end up costing them billions.

I don't know how to interpret this other than it being prelude to an internal coup of the Constitution by our own governemtn. Hope you like Obama as President because he may be in there for life. This is so brazen, they don't even care if people see through their lies and deceptions any more. I think they finally did it. They finally killed the Constitution.

PUBLIC AIRWAVES. That's the premise under which they are doing this (hence, FCC dominion over it). Radio is not immune. Short wave, CB... I doubt they care much about that- they're going for MASS media outlets for now.

Thank you. It's infuriating that so few people (even on ZH) are seeing the real end goal here.

We must be ready for a totalitarian government, finally. Even on ZH. This isn't just some "bankers stealing from people" story, this is a whole different level.

I'm SHOCKED so few see the real threat this poses. The recent article about government firewalls not allowing employees access to ZH showed they are afraid of us. THIS STORY is about how they are acting on that fear to slowly squeeze out dissenting voices (including ZH, if they don't "play ball" when the government shows up on their doorstep).

Oh, Jesus, Skateboarder, not you, too. You're completely fucking missing it. That's only the first layer. This is designed to SQUELCH ANY DISSENTING VOICES. And they don't care any more if you see it happening. ZH gets quoted from time to time even in MSM when they really nail something or break some story that nobody is paying attention to at the time. In short, ZH and other small outlets serve a purpose. What if even that minimal level of coverage was stopped..... or outlawed? (forget what would happen if ZH was directly censored)

We joke all the time about ZH visitors/posters being labeled "terrorists". What if it ACTUALLY happened?

Direct state control of the media is the LAST thing that happens before Constitutions get suspended.

I have never been as frustrated with the level of apathy and willful blindness as I am over this story. And it's happening right here amongst my fellow ZH'ers (MY OWN PEOPLE!) who I thought were pretty well informed on this kinda stuff. I can't believe only ONE other person on this board besides myself has the foresight to understand where this is heading.

This is NOT just another MIC-stealing-from-the-people story.

God damn it, Zero Hedgers, this one is not some run-of-the-mill"who gives a fuck" story. This MATTERS and most of you are missing it.

NoDebt, I don't mean to undestate the importance of this rollout - it's an uppercut to the 1st alright. All I'm saying is that I'm not surprised at any of these moves. It's all part of the playbook. In all forms of media, agents from the gub come and sit with you and you play nice, or else. It's the same story every time. It's just a matter of the pace at how fast things are going, how the people respond to the gradual rollouts of totality, and how soon the Terriss Witch Trials start.

Watch for another online content appropriation bill or something like that. This time the net-neutrality people will lose.

Or they can just censor the Internet overnight and be done with it. I'm sure the switch is already in place.

There was a comment in one of the Ukraine threads asserting that the Ukrainians were finally rejecting mafia government. Wonder if this a step to head off the same thing here? Maybe they really are worried.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the Criminal UNITED STATES, CORP. INC has been functioning off the Corp version of THE CONSTITUTION not the Organic version. That's the deception, defrauding of The American People & the reason they continue to rape, pillage, wage illegal wars, drone, assassinate & murder with impunity.

Time to go Ukranianian on these little bitches! We all have been waiting for that moment, is this it. If not what will it take? What will it take for us to unleash our own little "insert name here Spring"? Lock and Load fella's WOLVERIEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

704390250 rounds - that is about 2.5 rounds for every man woman and child in this country. I want my name to be craved on two of the rounds. I like to know who are the two lucky fellows who will get my bullets.

The one thing you can do to make some kind of difference is to NOT watch the channels who are bought and paid for. So for instance I never watch anything on NBC or CBS or ABC. No sports or anything else. I know it is very little but it is something at least.

Long time since I read a case like that. From a cursory read of the cause of action it looks like the case is brought by some POS that ought to have Rule 11 type sanctions rained down on their heads. In any event, ABC is whatever was the independent media organization that is now part of Disney. They are shills for the Administration (yes the one that wants one of their people in every news room to insist on their version of the truth). I hate Disney for other reasons (though the theme parks are great). Anyway the point is in an anti Nike sort of way if contemplating being a set of eyeballs that might receive the advertising trope sustaining these assholes i say Just Dont Do It.

They are ALL bought and paid for. All MSM is owned by a handful of people and employ armies of message massagers working on every detail. And marching toward the same goal.

If you are paying for cable/sat but not watching, they could give a shit. They still get your money because they get a cut of your bill. A fringe channel may only get a nickle per customer but those nickels add up.

"Al Jazeera did not disclose the purchase price, but people with direct knowledge of the deal pegged it at around $500 million, indicating a $100 million payout for Mr. Gore, who owned 20 percent of Current."

I doubt any regular viewer of MSNBC would be able to handle any real "critical information" if it requires the least bit of critical thought. Besides, they are too busy leaning forward or bending over or something like that.

and zh commenters glued to their chairs, keep on doing nothing more than getting fatter with every passing day (including yours truly). at least in ukraine, venezuela, etc. the people are burning gov't buildings down instead of posting comments.

The 'Do Something, Anything Disease' seems to be common with humanity.

Do Something . . . . even if counterproductive and self destructive.

Do Something . . . . even if you'll hurt your own cause.

Do Something . . . even if it brings 'laws' which have no impact on the 'problem' and only takes money & freedom from you.

Do Something . . . . including running off to war or burning down your own communities - - - even if you can barely articulate what it is you are supposedly fighting or marching or burning for. And even if logic has never been something that youve allowed in your brain.

Do Something, Anything ! - - - - is the call of fools . . . and of those who manipulate them.

dude,
if the people in the US awaken and fill the streets, it will be hot lead not rocks. Do you want to fire the shot heard 'round the world? That's a lot of blood on one man's hands. The resulting shit show will never end . forgive me if I want to avoid or at least delay TEOTWAWKI.
Follow Me!

"Incredibly, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is set to roll out something called the Critical Information Needs study, which will embed government “researchers” into media organizations around the nation to make sure they are doing their job properly."

....And, rolling it out in a deep conservative state, the one which was first to secede, the first to open fire on fedgov, 1861, whose people have a habit of starting a war when pissed off enough. A state which already has had the 3rd ID HQ posted to their state.

Its all a chess board. No absolute plan but an absolute directive and end goal. Get officials in position for at first observation, then influence and finally control. This would be done in conjunction with others moves. Things that would incentivize public fears creating demands for "protection". Maybe something like a high level assassination attempt, blame for which being pointed at conservative media voices "instigating" threatening attitudes. This would also allow an almost instant clamp down on guns and ammo, calling in the collected data of the NSA to confirm ownership and locations. They will use examples of Ukraine to foster fears of uprisings, even though The US has fully backed the rioters. Everything is for effect and purpose. As Rahm said, a crisis is too valuable to waste, especially if it is a crisis you deliberately fabricated.

The former KGB Agent said that for true Propaganda, Indoctrination & PsyOp to be effective it must span Generations or be " Generational." What more proof do we need. It's beyond repair at this point, IMHO.

It's been building for awhile, but it is mind-boggling what Obama and the "progressives" have done in such a short time. They are well on the way to transforming the USA into an overt fascio-communist state.